Fink & Students Design Device to Help Blind People Navigate by Sight

ECE professor Wolfgang Fink worked with a team of neuroscience students on creating a device to help visually impaired people navigate. The group partnered with Sunggye Hong, an associate professor in the Department of Disability and Psychoeducational Studies who is himself blind, and joined Fink’s Visual and Autonomous Exploration Systems Research Laboratory. They were joined by Andres Nuncio Zuniga, a biomedical engineering doctoral student in the lab.

The project is designed to augment the white cane, the traditional navigation device that helps users detect objects on the ground. However, it is doesn’t help with detection of overhead obstacles, so Fink and his students decided to create a supplement to do just that.

“Ultimately what we did is develop an assistive device that is by no means replacing the cane, but is widening the experience of the blind person,” Fink said.

The device, which the team named Visual Impairment Subtle Touch Aid, or VISTA, consists of two belts. One is equipped with sensors that detect obstacles around the user, inspired by the radar sensors on the backs of cars. The other belt warns the person when an obstacle is near by vibrating. The closer the person gets to the obstacle, the faster the vibrations become.

Once they had a prototype of the device, the group first tested it themselves, wearing blindfolds. Then Hong tested the device and provided more feedback, including making the belts out of rubberized material and making them more adjustable.

“I receive requests like this one once in a while,” Hong said. “However, this was especially meaningful to me, as orientation and mobility — skills that an individual with visual impairments must have to live independently — are so critical for people with visual impairments. In addition, using engineering and technology efforts to provide these solutions seemed way exciting.”